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After missing a year because of a protest by Madrid's gay community over a prohibition on putting bars in the streets during the city's 2013 Gay Pride week, Thursday night saw the return of the event's classic high heels race.

The number of competitors, buffed, glittering and, most importantly, squeezing their big men’s feet into flimsy stilettos, was so large that the organizers had to group them into two qualifying races before the grand final along Pelayo street in the capital’s Chueca neighbourhood, the epicentre of gay Madrid.

“I think this silly and fun side of the festivities is important because it encourages a flexibility between the genders in a really relaxed way. Sometimes you want to feel a bit more masculine and others a bit more feminine,” Stefanos Agelastos, a Greek gay activist who has lived in Madrid for a number of years, told El País newpaper.

The daily also noted there were a number of heterosexual competitors lining up in Pelayo street as part of the fun.

No major injuries were reported.

According to organizers, Gay Pride is set to see some two million people taking part, mostly during Saturday’s parade the rights of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community worldwide.